Highlights
- Science and research are crucial for societal advancement and understanding of sustainability.
- Context-specific conclusions of science are applicable and can change over time.
- Science finds and uses resources useful for human advancement, not creating them.
- Geophagy, the deliberate ingestion of dirt by pregnant women, can lead to health hazards like cancer, parkinsonism, Wilson's disease, cardiovascular disorders, and abnormalities in the unborn foetus.
- Abandoned gold mine lands pose health risks to children and women due to unintentional consumption of contaminated soils.
- The British Soil Science Society meeting highlighted the lack of restoration of mine areas due to tainted food and water.
- Ethical and value-based actions in science: Scientists and researchers adhere to precision, quality control, ethical clearance, informed consent, plagiarism checks, detection limits, calibration during analysis, use of blanks and standard solutions, statistical analyses, scientific principles, citation and acknowledgment, and use of reference materials in measurements.
I've always maintained that science and research are the only paths to advancement. These two help ensure our continued existence on the planet and teach us about the sustainability of our deeds and inactions. Have faith in science; its conclusions are context-specific and change over time, but they still work. God is like science; you can trust it! Science finds and makes resources useful for the advancement of society and humankind—it does not create.
I'll give two examples of why we should have faith in science and research. In Africa and Latin America, pregnant women consume dirt for a variety of reasons, including the acquisition of iron and other nutrients. We refer to this deliberate ingestion of soil as geophagy. Have we given this act's effects on health any thought? When these soils are contaminated with metals and non-metals like copper, lead, arsenic, mercury, chromium, and many more, health hazards including cancer, parkinsonism, Wilson's disease, cardiovascular disorders, and conditions like abnormalities in the unborn foetus could arise.
My research on both active and abandoned gold mine fields has led me to the conclusion that abandoned mine lands, in particular, act as children's play areas and as a hub for women traveling to and from their farms, which puts women's and children's health at risk. This is because, when using places like playgrounds, kids may unintentionally eat or ingest these contaminated soils. When exposed to dust, adult women also consume these contaminated soils orally.
At the British Soil Science Society meeting in Sheffield in September 2019, I presented and spoke on this topic, and the audience was astounded to learn why mine areas aren't restored. After I showed them a picture of kids swimming in a contaminated pool of water at the site, they also asked about the government's responsibility in ensuring the health and safety of kids about the scenario. People (women, children, and the elderly) who were exposed to such tainted food and water had a higher chance of developing cancer and other harmful health conditions across East Africa, Asia, and Latin America. If science isn't based on ethics and values, what good is it? There is no science in a vacuum. Scientists and researchers take the following actions to help society and people continue to accept science and research:
- Replicates in measurements
- Adhere to precision and quality control.
- Seek ethical clearance.
- Seek informed consent.
- Check for plagiarism.
- Set detection limits and do calibration during analysis.
- Employ the use of blanks and standard solutions.
- Conduct statistical analyses on the data obtained.
- Adhere to scientific principles and standards.
- We should cite and acknowledge people when we use their works.
- Employ the use of reference materials in measurements.
Source: Albert Kobina Mensah (Ph.D.)
